Single elastomeric connector system to support rf, digital, audio and dc signals

ABSTRACT

A connector system employs a first connector moiety on an insertable miniaturized form factor card. A mobile information device (MID) has a printed circuit board having a second connector moiety with a frame mounted on the MID PCB for receiving the card and having a slot for engagement of an elastomeric connector element in alignment with the second connector moiety. The card is positioned by the frame for alignment of the first connector moiety with the elastomeric connector element. The elastomeric connector element is a single integrated element. The first connector moiety incorporates a plurality of contact pads on the card and the second connector moiety incorporates a like plurality of contact pads on the MID PCB. The contact pads include at least a first set of RF pads and the signals on the first and second connector moieties are arranged for cross talk shielding in the elastomeric connector.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.11/308,559 filed on Apr. 6, 2006 entitled CONNECTOR FOR A HIGHLYINTEGRATED, INSTALLABLE MINIATURIZED FORM FACTOR CARD FOR WIRELESSCOMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS having a common assignee with the presentinvention the disclosure of which is incorporated herein as though fullyset forth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Related Art

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/308,221 filed on Mar. 13, 2006entitled MINIATURIZED FORM FACTOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS CARD FORGENERIC MOBILE INFORMATION DEVICES, having a common assignee with thepresent invention and which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety as though fully set forth, provides a system that allowscommunications capability to be inserted into a mobile informationdevice without the usual lead times for design of wirelesscommunications directly into the device itself. This system using aminiaturized form factor card provides the ability to integratehardware, software, utilities and drivers which will allow true plug andplay functionality for end users or mobile information device designhouses. The desired functional capability is provided through aninsertable card to eliminate the requirement for a separate CPU orapplications processor in the mobile information device andadditionally, provides a complete modem solution that will supportmulti-mode and multi-band.

Many insertable cards for communications capability will includedigital, Direct Current (DC), Radio Frequency (RF) and audio frequencysignal connection requirements with the mobile information devices inwhich the cards are inserted. It is therefore desirable to provide aconnector system which simplifies the arrangement of the connectorelements to reduce complexity and increase reliability of the system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a connector system having a firstconnector moiety on an insertable miniaturized form factor card. Amobile information device (MID) has a printed circuit board having asecond connector moiety and a frame mounted on the MID PCB for receivingthe card and having a slot for engagement of an elastomeric connectorelement in alignment with the second connector moiety, the cardpositioned by the frame for alignment of the first connector moiety withthe elastomeric connector element. The elastomeric connector element isa single integrated element.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first connector moiety incorporates aplurality of contact pads on the card and the second connector moietyincorporates a like plurality of contact pads on the MID PCB. Further,the contact pads include at least a first set of RF pads and the signalson the first and second connector moieties are arranged for cross talkshielding in the elastomeric connector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will bebetter understood by reference to the following detailed descriptionwhen considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1A is an isometric view of the elements of a connector system foran insertable miniaturized form factor card for employing the presentinvention;

FIG. 1B is an isometric view of the system of FIG. 1A showing theprinted circuit board (PCB) for the card and dual elastomeric connectorelements;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention with a frame and single elastomeric connector element;

FIG. 3A is an exploded front section view of an embodiment for contactpads on the miniaturized form factor card, MID and associatedelastomeric connector element; and

FIG. 3B is a bottom partial view of the contact pads on the miniaturizedform factor card as shown in FIG. 3A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To enhance the space savings and weight reduction to permit more compactportable devices with flexible designs and integrate chipsets withpassive components into a common module, the system provided incopending patent application Ser. No. 11/308,559 filed on Apr. 6, 2006entitled CONNECTOR FOR A HIGHLY INTEGRATED, INSTALLABLE MINIATURIZEDFORM FACTOR CARD FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS, having a commonassignee with the present invention and which is incorporated herein byreference as though fully set forth, employs integral connector systemshaving standard interfaces and indexing for mating to PC boards withinthe mobile information device platforms and to properly index and matethe miniaturized form factor card. To further simplify the connectorsystem a single Elastomeric connector element in combination withconnection pad arrangement on the insertable miniaturized form factorcard and host Mobile Information Device (MID) is employed.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a connector system for employing embodiments of thepresent invention having miniaturized form factor card 10 receivedwithin a frame 12 mounted to PC board 14 in a MID handset. Circuitconnection to the MID PCB is provided in the embodiment shown by twoelastomeric connector elements 16 a and 16 b, contained within connectorreceiving slots 18 a and 18 b in the frame. The Elastomeric connectorelements receive the mating elements of a first connector moiety on thecard. An exemplary elastomeric connector is a STAX™ connector producedby Tyco Electronics. For the digital signals connector, a STAX™ model LDconnector is employed in exemplary embodiments. The elastomericconnector element engages contact pads on the PCB in the MID forcompleting the circuit functionality.

The card is installed in the MID, for the embodiment of the connectorsystem shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, by insertion vertically within frame 12which receives the external edges 20 of the card. A hinged cover 22 isprovided on the frame to secure the entire card within the frame afterinsertion, urging the connector moieties into firm engagement. PCB 24with the card covers removed is shown in FIG. 1A with the elasomtericconnector is shown exploded from the slot in the frame for greaterclarity.

As shown in FIG. 2, a single Elastomeric connector element 26 accordingto the present invention is received in a single slot 28 in the frame.To allow the miniaturized form factor card to use one ElastomericConnector to support RF, Digital, Audio and power signals cross talkinterference among these signals, particularly cross talk interferenceamong noisy high speed digital signals, highly sensitive audio (speakerand microphone) and RF signals, must be minimized. To accomplish crosstalk reduction, the signals are arranged in a unique principle orsequence. In an exemplary ordering, RF pins are placed on one end of theconnector for lowest noise affect from other signals. High speed digitalpins such as USB, LCD bus are placed far away from RF and audio pins anddigital ground and DC power pins are used as shielding pads and insertedin between noisy signal pins such as LCD pins and USB pins. Digitalground or DC power pins can be combined into wider pins to achieveimproved shielding performance. Finally, low speed Digital pins such asKeypad, SIM or GPIO are used as buffer pins in close proximity to noisysignal pins such as UART.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, pad placement and size are employed toachieve the desired shielding effects. For the exemplary embodiment twosets of RF pins are employed at opposite ends of the connector. Usingthe card connector moiety for description of the contact padarrangement, a first RF ground pin 30 and a second RF ground pin 32employ a larger foot print in one or both axes to provide shielding forRF pin 34. RF ground 32 is shown with a double width as exemplary.Conductive layers 36 in the elastomeric conductor element interconnectthe contact pads on the miniaturized form factor card and the MID PCB.For larger transverse footprint pads such as the second RF ground pin32, a larger number of conductive layers, 38 and 40 as examples in thedrawing, are employed which based on the granular nature of theconducting material in the elastomeric connector element, typicallylayers of silver embedded in silicone rubber, further enhances theshielding capability. For actual Elastomeric connector elements employedin exemplary embodiments, pitch of the Conductive Layers as low as 0.13mm (0.005″) is employed which provides three to four conductive layerstypically in contact with 0.5 mm wide pads. Three to four non-conductivelayers typically separate adjacent 0.5 mm wide pads on 1.0 mm centers.The wide foot print ground pins in the exemplary embodiment discussedabove provide approximately 1.0 mm width thereby contacting double thenumber of conductive layers. For the example embodiment in FIGS. 3A and3B, the second set of RF pins incorporate large footprint RF ground pads42 and 44 surrounding a second RF pin 46. Placement of the second RF pinset on the opposite end of the connector allows maximum segregation ofthe two RF elements.

Continuing the pin description inboard from the first RF pin set, adigital ground pad 48 is provided with an adjacent DC power pad 50followed by pads 52 for speaker and microphone signals. Low speeddigital signal pads 54, as described above, separate the audio pins fromthe LCD bus 56. A digital ground pad 58 segregates the LCD bus on theother side from low speed digital signal pad 60 which in turn furthershields pad 62 which may be employed for SIM, USB or UART connection.The second RF pin set is further shielded using a second digital groundpad 64 adjacent the inner RF ground pad.

An exemplary pin ordering for optimized shielding may include anarrangement of RF pin|RF and Digital Ground|DC Power|Audio Pins(Speaker&Mic)|Digital Ground|SIM Pin|UART|Digital Ground|USB|Keypadpins|Digital Ground|LCD/Camera Bus.

Having now described the invention in detail as required by the patentstatutes, those skilled in the art will recognize modifications andsubstitutions to the specific embodiments disclosed herein. Suchmodifications are within the scope and intent of the present inventionas defined in the following claims.

1. A connector system comprising: a first connector moiety on aninsertable miniaturized form factor card; a mobile information device(MID) printed circuit board having a second connector moiety; a framemounted on the MID PCB for receiving the card and having a slot forengagement of an elastomeric connector element in alignment with thesecond connector moiety, the card positioned by the frame for alignmentof the first connector moiety with the elastomeric connector element;the first and second connector moieties having signal arrangement forcross talk shielding in the Elastomeric connector.
 2. The connectorsystem defined in claim 1 wherein the first connector moiety comprises aplurality of contact pads on the card and the second connector moietycomprises a like plurality of contact pads on the MID PCB.
 3. Theconnector system defined in claim 2 wherein the contact pads incorporatea first set of RF pads.
 4. The connector system defined in claim 3wherein the contact pads incorporate a second set of RF pads.
 5. Theconnector system defined in claim 4 wherein the first set of RF pads islocated at a first end of the connector moiety and the second set of RFpads is located at a second end of the connector moiety.
 6. Theconnector system defined in claim 3 wherein the first set of RF padsincorporates a first RF ground pad, a second RF ground pad and an RFsignal pad intermediate the first and second ground pads.
 7. Theconnector system defined in claim 6 wherein the first and second RFground pads have a larger footprint than adjacent pads.
 8. The connectorsystem defined in claim 2 wherein noisy digital pads are shielded usingadjacent ground pads.
 9. The connector system defined in claim 8 whereinnoisy digital pads are further shielded using low speed digital pads.10. The connector system defined in claim 9 wherein the ordering ofsignal pads comprises RF pin|RF and Digital Ground|DC Power|Audio Pins(Speaker&Mic)|Digital Ground|SIM Pin|UART|Digital Ground|USB|Keypadpins|Digital Ground|LCD/Camera Bus.
 11. A method for connection of aminiaturized form factor card on a mobile information device printedcircuit board comprising the steps of: providing a frame on the MID PCBto receive the card; providing a first connector moiety on the card;providing an elastomeric connector constrained by the frame andcontacting a second connector moiety on the MID PCB; arranging signalson the first and second connector moieties for cross talk shielding inthe elastomeric connector
 12. The method of claim 11 in which providingthe first connector moiety comprises the step of forming a plurality ofcontact pads on a PCB in the card and a like plurality of pads on theMID PCB.
 13. The method of claim 12 in which the step of arrangingsignals includes the step of providing first set of RF pads.
 14. Themethod of claim 14 wherein the step of providing a first set of RF padsincludes providing a first RF ground pad, a second RF ground pad and anRF signal pad intermediate the first and second ground pads.
 15. Themethod of claim 13 in which the step of arranging signals furtherincludes the step of providing a second set of RF pads.
 16. The methodof claim 15 wherein the second set of RF pads is located on an oppositeend of the connector moiety from the first set of RF pads.
 17. Themethod of claim 12 in which the step of arranging the signals includesthe steps of shielding noisy digital pads using adjacent ground pads.18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of arranging the signalsfurther includes shielding using low speed digital pads.
 19. The methodof claim 18 wherein the step of arranging the signals includes arrangingthe pads in the order of RF pin, RF and Digital Ground, DC Power, AudioPins (Speaker&Mic), Digital Ground, SIM Pin, UART, Digital Ground, USB,Keypad pins, Digital Ground, LCD/Camera Bus.